HOME AT LAST
We have
been home for two weeks now. The
trailer is unpacked, and everything is put away. Clothes are washed, folded and
put away; the rest still need to be ironed.
All the food is back in the fridge and food shopping has been done. We took the car to the body shop to get the
tail light and bumper replaced (see Yukon posting).
We’ve
visited Dave’s mom to pick up the rest of our mail. We’ve had important mail (such as my PEOPLE magazine...well
it’s important to me) forwarded to us when we were in Gig Harbor. Dave pressure washed the trailer and cleaned
the inside (what a guy!) and took it back to storage. Now we rest and play; went to the Sonoma
County Fair – twice! Cousin Bob visited
for a day or two – twice! Now I have
time to finish up the BLOG.
We've been slowly weeding and cleaning the yard. The backyard was a jungle. You should have seen the tomato
plants. They had invaded the outdoor
cat pen. And most of my seasonal flowers
are dead. This is the worst part of
traveling for an extended time. We have
to sacrifice the yard and gardens. But
all will be well soon. It was all worth
it.
The
trip was an adventure that will not be forgotten. We’ve revisited old sites and
explored new ones. Met up with some
friends from the past and met new people from all over the US and Canada. I’ve taken over 1,000 pictures. Just a little over 400 are in the BLOG.
“There
is no place like home; but
there
is no place like the adventures of traveling,
the freedom
to do it,
the
independence and strength to cope with it,
the
heart to love it,
the
enthusiasm to learn all you can,
the
memories to bring home and share,
and the
desire to do it again and again.”
....I wrote this in my travel journal in 1978
SUMMARY
PART I –
USA; Nevada, Idaho and Montana
In NEVADA, on our first night, we enjoyed an Italian and Chocolate buffet for
only $9.99 at the Sparks Nugget. Found a
nickel slot machine and threw away a few dollars. It’s all push button now; really miss pulling
the “arm”.
In MONTANA we watched the hand carved
wooden animals dance around and around at the Carousel for Missoula and nearby we watched surfers ride Brennan’s
Wave in the Clark Fork River. At Glacier National Park we saw double
rainbows and on a side trip into Canada to visit Alberta’s Waterton National Park we saw Big Horn Sheep and Elk
grazing and relaxing on the lawns of homes that reside inside the park; the
start of many “wildlife sightings” we will continue to see in the coming
weeks. Just outside the West Glacier, at
Polebridge Mercantile we enjoyed the
biggest, best tasting Huckleberry Bear Claw you will ever see and taste. We rented a motorboat and enjoyed our last
evening at Glacier with a ride on Lake McDonald.
PART II -
Canada
We
spent a month in Canada exploring Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon.
ALBERTA
We
started out in Alberta visiting their
National Parks in Banff and Jasper. Banff NP has showed a wonderful respect
for its wildlife by building grass covered animal crossings over their
highway. High fences on both sides of
the highway kept the wildlife from becoming road kill. Even though it was early summer, Lake Louise was still frozen over. It
was a thrill walking through Johnson
Canyon on the catwalks elevated above the raging Johnson Creek. On our way to Jasper along the Icefields
Parkway, we came upon our first “wildlife jam”.
We saw our first bear; a big brown Grizzly!
In Jasper NP we visited the Columbia Ice
Fields and walked on a glacier (Athabasca
Glacier). To make it even more cold,
it started snowing, real hard. On The Valley of the Five Lakes trail we
were able to see four of the five lakes on this strenuous, rocky and steep hike
before we gave up and took another trail to loop back to the beginning.
Before
leaving Alberta we did a brief trip to the big city of Edmonton. There we visited
the giant West Edmonton Mall. Even though there were 800 stores there, we
didn’t buy anything. We just walked and
walked and walked. We did some more
walking the Art Gallery of Alberta
and the Royal Albert Museum. We ended our stay with a walk in nature when
we visited the University of Alberta
Devonian Botanic Garden.
BRITISH
COLUMBIA
In Dawson Creek we started our journey on the Alaska Highway at Mile 0; after we walked across Kiskatinaw
Bridge, one of many timber bridges built in Canada, but this is the only
one still in use. We made many stops as
we traveled on this long, lonely, narrow, badly paved and sometimes dirt
highway. Along the way we saw snow
capped mountains, beautiful scenery and lots of wildlife sightings. We saw our
first of many Black bears, including a mom bear with 3 cubs frolicking in the
grass.
In Toad River we camped beside the river
and watched several moose wading into the river forging for food and a family of
beavers dragging sticks to their lodge. And we saw a double rainbow! At
the RV office, restaurant and store, hanging above on the ceiling of all three
rooms was Toad River’s collection of over 8,000 caps from all over the world.
YUKON
We saw
longer hours of daylight as we traveled north on the Alaska Highway to Mile 635
at Watson Lake. Here we walked through a forest of signs. You can add your own sign from your home town
to the growing Sign Post Forest of
over 55,000 signs!
We saw
Mile 918 of the Alaska Highway in Whitehorse,
the capital city of the Yukon; where we saw the Yukon River and visited the Yukon
Wildlife Preserve and McBride Museum. We did a day trip 100 miles to the west on
the Klondike Highway to visit Skagway,
Alaska and had lunch at Red Onion Saloon;
an exclusive bordello in the late 1800’s.
When we returned to our car we found a smashed tail light and back
fender. A Princess Cruise shuttle left
us a nice note.
BRITISH
COLUMBIA again
As we headed south on the Stewart-Cassiar Highway we saw more wildlife; more black bears (they were everywhere), Red Foxes, and a moose with two babies running across the road. We saw more glaciers when we visited Stewart and neighbor city Hyder, Alaska (the friendliest ghost town in Alaska”) where we saw Salmon Glacier, the 5th largest glacier in North America.
We
spent our last days in Canada in Hope where
we viewed chainsaw carvings that the city is known for and hiked through the
abandoned railway tunnels; Othello Tunnels at Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park.
PART III –
USA: Washington, Oregon and California
In WASHINGTON we visited friends in Gig
Harbor. In Seattle we strolled with our
friends through Chihuly’s Garden and
Glass with the Space Needle in the background.
In OREGON we saw scenic waterfalls along
the Columbia River Gorge and visited
gardens of blooming blossoms, smelled scents of serenity, and saw lush landscapes
in Portland.
We
found a secret garden along the McKenzie River when we camped at Belknap Hot
Springs Lodge and RV Park. In the city
of Sisters we walked among hundreds of hanging quilts of bright colors and
patterns during their 39th
Annual Outdoor Quilt Show. At Crater Lake National Park we drove all
around the rim of the crater and saw the deep blue waters of the lake at
different times of the day and saw the changing lights and shadows.
In CALIFORNIA, as we drove home, we hugged
the coast and drove among the giants; the majestic Redwoods. And I hugged a redwood.
REVIEW
1.
Traveled
for 63 days
2.
We
traveled a total of 8,657 miles;
5,921 miles towing the
trailer
2,736 additional miles on the Ford sightseeing
Spent $3,785.20 on gas
Used 824.314 gallons of gas
3.
Visited
7 states: California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana,
Alaska, Washington and Oregon.
4. Visited 3 Provinces:
Alberta, Columbia and the Yukon.
5. Visited 38 Cities, Towns, Villages
6.
Visited 10 National Parks, Monuments, etc, State Parks
7.
Visited 3 Historical Sites
8.
Visited 7 Botanical
gardens
9.
Visited 3 Zoos
10. Visited 0 Aquariums
11.
Visited 6 Museums
12.
Visited 21 Other
Attractions
13.
Attended 3 Events
14.
Experienced
3
crisis:
(1) On a side trip to Skagway (while in
the Yukon), a Princess Cruise van cut the street corner too close and clipped
our car; busting the tail light, and
scraped and dented the bumper below it.
They left a note with contact details, later they drove by as Dave was
inspecting it and stopped and talked.
(2) Flat tire on
a lonely, narrow two lane road (Stewart-Cassiar Hwy) in British Columbia between Watson Lake and
Iskut. Nearby saw sign pointing down
side street; “Charlies Shop – Tire Repair”.
(3) In Washington as we pulled into Gig
Harbor RV park; a bolt and clip holding up the side bar on our hitch broke
loose and fell leaving the bar hanging.
We were stopped when it happened and we were able to retrieve the
hardware and do repairs.
Wildlife
Sightings:
24 Black Bear (5 cubs)
1 Grizzly
1 Brown Bear
2 Red Foxes
6 Moose (2 babes)
Long Horn Sheep
Mountain Goats
Stone Sheep
Bison
Caribou
Elk, Mule Deer
Beavers (family of 4)
Bald Eagle
In all
the years we have been trailer tripping, this is the only time we have seen and
viewed this much wildlife. In nine years
we’ve seen maybe one or two bears.
This trip
has been awesome!
